Gina Lollobrigida was born as Luigia Lollobrigida on 4th July 1927 in Subiaco, Italy and passed away on 16th January 2023. She was an actress, photojournalist, politician, model and artist, was divorced and had a son.
When she was 18, Gina learnt to sing, did modelling and performed in a theatrical comedy. She also competed in various beauty contests, placing third in Miss Italia in 1947, as well as starred in small roles in Italian movies.
By the age of 32, Gina had already acted in about 38 films, both Italian and English-speaking. Famous actors she starred with were Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra, Anthony Quinn and Marcello Mastroianni, amongst others.
During the 60s, Lollobrigida proceeded with her successful career and acted in more and more movies such as ‘Come September’, ‘Venere Imperiale’, ‘Le Bambole’, ‘Hotel Paradiso’ and ‘Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell’.
In 1972, she appeared in the Italian TV mini-series ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’ as the Fairy with Turquoise Hair alongside actor Nino Manfredi as Geppetto and Andrea Balestri as Pinocchio. By the end of this decade, her movie career started to decline so she took a second job in photojournalism. She managed to photograph many prominent personalities like Audrey Hepburn, David Cassidy, Ella Fitzgerald and Salvadore Dali and even succeeded in interviewing Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
In the middle of the 80s, Gina was cast in the popular American soap opera ‘Falcon Crest’ as well as had a role in the TV series ‘Deceptions’ alongside actress Stefanie Powers.
In 1999 and 2022, she even ran as candidate for two different political parties, however, she was unsuccessful. Gina also published 6 books featuring her own paintings, sculptures and drawings as well as her photography.
During her long career, Gina won 6 Bambi, 3 David di Donatello, 2 Nastro D’Argento and a Golden Globe Henrietta awards. In addition, she was nominated as a FAO Goodwill Ambassador, received a star on the Hollywood Hall of Fame plus a couple of other honours.
Gina died on 16th January 2023 at the age of 95. She was considered as one of the highest-profile actresses of the 50s and 60s.